Virgin enable non-cable customers
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007Cable provider hooks up ADSL customers
Virgin Media has announced that it intends to supply digital TV services to customers not living in an area which is serviced by their cable network, by way of a set-top box.
The small, matt-black box, roughly the same size of a VHS cassette, will broadcast the 40 free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels, as well as the 25+ digital radio stations, along with an eight-day electronic programme guide (EPG). The box comes with its own stylish remote, and is free to anyone who signs up to Virgin’s 8MB ADSL Broadband and Talk Anytime phone bundle deal.
This move means that Virgin Media’s much emphasised offer of Quad Play services will be available to more than just cable customers, allowing customers to save money on phone and internet bills as well as receive digital television. There are also announcements of plans to add “more advanced” TV services to the package throughout the year, which may or may not be a converged IPTV service, similar to BT Vision.
If this is the case, then this is something of a controversial move from Virgin who, along with BT, Setanta, and Top Up TV, has asked for Ofcom to investigate the pay-TV market after Sky had announced that it intended to sell on-demand content through a similar box.
As such, some have viewed the launch as yet another extension in the Sky/Virgin dispute, regarding it as a pre-emptive measure against the possibility of Sky VoD content being made available via Freeview in light of Ofcom’s investigation.
